Today at 10:30 a.m. the NHL will announce the first six starters in the popularity contest, er, I mean, fan ballot-box stuffing, er, rather, voting for the all-star game starters.

I’m assuming we will also find out where John Tortorella ($30,000 lighter) stands in terms of being one of the all-star game coaches. Because he’s in the running.

And tonight, Panthers-Rangers, is the first game affected by the Time Warner Cable-Cablevision-MSG Network fiasco. Will be interesting to see how long this game of big-money chicken continues. But know going in, you guys who have TWC are the pawns for both sides.

Anyone found a way to watch 24/7 in full yet?
I’m loving the clips, especially the Dan Girardi, instroducing the starting lineup (#27 “Mack Truck” Ryan MacDonough, #19 The big free agent splash, Broadway Brad Richards).
Just watching that one clip shows you the great team spirit these guys have

I don’t think there will be a let down. I could see fatigue becoming a factor in the coming weeks, but with Staal and Sauer coming back that may not happen either. Feds, Prust, and Boyle all look like they need the odd night off. I think we will start seeing that.

HockeyRodent is taking a collection to offset Tort’s tort. I think he is doing it with the full anticipation of donating it to charity, so if you want to make a statement and do something good at the same time, go check it out.

I dont think Torts will allow a let down and with Staal coming back, Wolski fit again and hopefully Mike Sauer soon, plus the trade deadline looming next month, people are playing for their jobs, any let up and they may find themselves watching from the stands or playing 7-8 minutes a night instead of 17-18 or worse, reunited with Wade, Shaun and the Whale.

YOu folks know so much about the goings on in Rangerville, that’s why you are able to take over as guest posters without losing a beat, or making fools of yourselves. I am in awe of the inside info you all get. At best I’m just an ancient historian, but even that dries up in time. Happy New year to all bonesters and your families, Just got back night before last and it still feels like I’m in CT…can’t seem to get warm. I’m easing my way back into Florida style. I was beginning to think that the pilot had just taken the bird around for a spin and then dropped us off back in Hartford.

Something lost in the Ranger/Flyer match that stood out for me was the play of Stu Bickel, specifically in terms of his physical presence.

As we all know, the Flyers love to crash the net and aren’t shy about initiating scrums in the crease after the whistle.

Everytime Bickel was on the ice and stuff like that started in the Ranger crease (or end for that matter) there he was responding in full.

I love it. It’s not that no other Ranger does that (because now they all do) but isn’t it glorious to see a big, strong Ranger d-man ready and willing to get engaged physically at any moment with the full intent of dropping his gloves should that be warranted?

OMG, this guy better not get farmed out once Sauer and then Eminger return….

I can’t seem to get a phone number to call either side and talk with someone who has anything to do with the standoff…. Both companies just send you to a PR recorded message line… All I want to ask is if they have discussed arbitration at all… And if not… Why the Carcillo not!!?? Hate both sides of this fight and we are just pawns in THEIR game!

The US government has been warned about cable monopolization and they don’t want to touch it!

Really, Manny? From what I’ve seen, the FiOS packages are cheaper than TWC. By far, at least mine is. Not to mention their HD quality is better. Also, their internet speed is much faster, including upload speed. I already see a significant improvement in my Slingbox’s video streaming.

They will do it for you, Manny. Unless you have some complex stuff in your house, it’s easy. I like their new wireless router too, it’s n-protocol and the range is good. I did have to do port forwarding on it ( the technician didn’t know how to do it) for my cameras, slingbox, sonos, but if you don’t have to do that, no worries…

Katheryn Tappin – I hate to say it but I have Comcast and it kicks the heck out of any service I have ever had before…any time my bill goes up I call them and the adjust things to get it back down…their On Demand is good…I even had picture issues when i first moved in to my house and they sent 4 guys out and they basically rewired my house inside and out FOR FREE!!!

Their customer service was usually one of the lowest rated and they have changed all that…they are super friendly and helpful 9 times out 10.

I know this is a blog behind but I just emailed this to everyone in every form of media to see what, if anything, will be done about the officiating.

Dear Sir,

I’m a Ranger fan, and I obviously had a problem with the way the game was called in the Winter Classic. But here is my problem. I have gone around to multiple people from all kinds of places who were not Rangers fans, and by far most agree. “There was something wrong with the officiating, and maybe Tort’s was right” You wouldn’t believe the amount of people who had stories about bad officiating in the NHL, and would give specifics as to what they were talking about.

Here’s the thing, was there something going on with the referee’s?? Was NBC correct when the said the referee had worked in some fashion, or coached (not sure of the exact wording) in or with the Philly organization?? If so how does the league allow this referee to be involved with Philly at all?? Are the referee’s going to penalized in any shape or form??

Will you as a news organization look into this in anyway?? Will you question the NHL??

Even to people who don’t watch hockey I have heard them chime in against the ref’s. If the referee’s weren’t trying to get the game to overtime, then they are some of the worst, and clearly should be fined or removed immediately.

Has anyone read the comments at TSN?? Hundreds of comments, none against what Tort’s said. Maybe biased against Rangers but they had their own story of bad officiating.

There always seems to be one common factor in all of these cable channel/carrier disbutes. Dolan. OK, he gets a pass on VS/Directv a couple of years ago but all of the others always seem to involve him.

Philly is the worst place to go to a game of any kind. They are some of the dumbest fans you will ever meet. They don’t know as much about their teams as you would think. Kind of like Tampa or Carolina in the sports intellect department. Which falls some where between hillbilly and primate. I was a guest of the Tampa Bay lightning during the Cup run and i went to Philly with some buddies. One of my friends is a cop and of course the dopey Philly thug had to pick on him. He grabbed the idiot by thumb and had him on the ground screaming like a little girl until the security came. And that was just ONE of the awful incidents that night.

Don’t let anyone tell you differently: Philly fans are idiots. Idiots tend to be violent. And in this case, the stereotype is 100% true.

From what I read some of the guys who run one of the Flyers blogs friended the alleged assailant on facebook after he bragged about the fight. They got some of his personal info and passed it along to the police. Then the guy deleted what he said about the fight and started pointing fingers at some of his friends. Not enough info to confirm whether he was actually involved but that guy would also be a complete moron to admit to doing something like that if he wasn’t in fact involved.

The fans at the WC were a bit more subdued. There was plenty of taunting but only one incident that I saw of people getting physical which was quickly broken up by security. I have to imagine the price point of the tickets probably made people think twice about getting tossed out. One of the guys I went with said he was surprised how well the Philly fans behaved throughout the game, particularly at the end after the Rangers had won.

From having been to plenty of games against the division rivals at MSG, I’ve always noticed the Philly fans being the loudest and rowdiest. Much worse than any games vs the Isles or Devils.

Is Barch playing tonight? I read he has a hearing with the league based on his alleged comments to PK Slewfoot. Otherwise there’s not a lot of guys on the Kitty Cats I could see doing any damage. If Kopecky has half a brain (results pending) he’s not gonna start anything. Only guy I see getting physical is Jovanovski, but he has to be able to catch up to the player first to hit them.

I’d rather they see what they can do with the current team and then see who’s available on the FA market before they start shipping out a king’s ransom for anyone. Plus cap space will be much easier to figure out after the year when they can shed impending UFAs/RFAs if need be.

Nice to see cwgatti getting a retweet from notorious Asslanders fan IncarceratedBob on twitter – but then again the one thing we have in common with those idiots is bad contracts, we’re just lucky that the Rangers have found a way out from most of them recently, unlike Wang and his albatross “ole Glass-Knees” DiPietro.

On a plus note, took my 4 year old ice skating yesterday (outside the Natural History Museum in London) and he loved it, i also realised my skating skills have diminished a little with age! No veterans game for me, even if i could find one!

Tough to tell with that team given how many extra players they keep around just to hit the cap minimum. Didn’t realize that Nielsen, PAP and Montoya were all UFAs after this year. What are the odds that any of them re-sign there?

High Pitch, I live in the Empire of King Colossus Christie too LOL. Fran, Happy New Year missed having you around. Please don’t consider yourself ancient I consider you experienced! Be glad your back in Florida it was 10 degrees when I got up yesterday in NJ. Talk about not warming up but it should be 50 on Saturday. I find the collective IQ of this place highly superior. It’s like my wife says too bad they don’t they don’t have tag team Jeopardy because she reads alot and can do crosswords well and I have a whole lot of other
knowledge that she doesn’t but I think we would get killed by the buzzer or time. LGR

I’m sure you all saw this today, but the Ottawa fans did a terrific job of getting four of their players into their own all-star game:
From the NHL:

Daniel Alfredsson, Jason Spezza, Milan
Michalek and Erik Karlsson — all of the host Ottawa Senators — are among
the first six players named by the fans to participate in the 2012 Tim
Hortons NHL All-Star Game. Defenseman Dion Phaneuf of the Toronto Maple
Leafs and goaltender Tim Thomas of the Boston Bruins earned the other
All-Star berths in the 2012 NHL All-Star Fan BallotingTM Presented by
Sirius XM.

Alfredsson, the longtime Senators captain who tallied the 400th goal
of his NHL career Dec. 30, received 897,055 votes as the top vote-getter
among forwards. Spezza earned 817,483 votes to grab the second spot,
followed by Michalek (743,977).

The 21-year-old Karlsson, who leads all NHL defensemen in scoring
with 5-32–37, garnered the top spot on the blueline with a League-high
939,591 votes. Joining Karlsson on defense is Maple Leafs captain Phaneuf,
who ranked second among defensemen with 614,933 votes.

Thomas, the 2010-11 Vezina and Conn Smythe Trophy winner who is
14-2-0 in his past 16 decisions this season, led all goaltenders with
626,540 votes.

Everyone get up from your midday napping
Ready to make some noise, with lyrical rapping
Time to bust a move, this ain’t no crapping
Can you feel the beat, fingers snapping
If you’re still sitting, start the toes tapping
Those now standing, let’s hear your hands clapping
Now get up and dance, get bodies slapping
We are partying all night with Kathryn Tappen

Doing the funky chicken with both arms flapping
Shaking it loose, feel a current zapping
Ready to get physical, like a wrestler grappling
Shaking your hips, energy never sapping
Take off your clothes baby, remove the gift wrapping
Let’s not try to understand why this is happening
Hands in the air, tongues out lapping
Getting in the flow with Kathryn Tappen

CTBlueshirt – Yeah my friend helps run that blog. Either way that clown is going to get a call from the police and deserves whatever he gets out of it. Even if he didn’t do it, he’s stupid for taking credit for it and then backtracking and throwing other people under the bus.

As for trade rumors, we don’t need Doan or Iginla. I’d rather have Nash, but that price is way too high unless we’d be able to have someone take Wolski off our books. Not going to happen though.

A great media session from Brian Burke, who I personally think would better serve the League as Assistant Commissioner than a team GM. Example A of what he’s talking about is Kopecky. Easy to throw sucker punch now let’s see him stand up and fight Rupp tonight.

His other point about players waiting for the League for discipline is the biggest problem. The person throwing the hit doesn’t care too much about a potential if it means eliminating a guy like Nick Backstrom and the guy getting hit doesn’t fear throwing himself into boards knowingly to draw a 5 minute major.

Interesting audio clip. While acknowledging that the game has gotten much faster you would think it might make sense to expand the rinks to European sizes instead of bringing up ways to slow the game down. I guess the thought of losing a couple seats makes that possibility unworkable though.

It was me that included the pic during the last series against the Caps. If my memory serves meit was of Dubunsky celebrating a goal, and Manny said, “Today will be known as the day that Billy included the picture.”

I said I would never do it again or tell anyone how I did it, and I’ve kept my word. And, Kathryn Tappen.

Directv does a terrific job getting every possible game in every sport on the air. I highly recommend their service & their prices are competitive. Of course, they need to install a dish (free) & you need a clear shot at the southern sky from a roof, window, patio…etc, for it to work.

I have HBO, but a friend of mine told me the 24/7 show was on YouTube.

Has anyone seen a statement or an apology from that “1st class ” organ-eye-zation on what happened to the Rangers’ fan after th WC? I haven’t not to mention anything from the “suits ” at the NHL. But the Rangers organ-eye-zation had to issue an apology because of Torts remarks after the game. The only people responsible for TAINTING the W C are the filthy flyers fans, their organ-eye-zation & the NHL in my opinion. They know nothing about being 1st class end of rant continue with the trades! NOT

I listened to Burke in that audio clip. I’m not surprised Colton Orr can’t keep up with today’s nhl speed. Colton Orr was never a good skater. I always viewed Orr as a below average skater with minimal hockey talent that could fight. In today’s nhl you need to have at least average skating ability and average hockey talent to be a enforcer.

So since we throw out Cooke’s name as our code words for dirtier things around here, I thought I’d point out that after Cooke’s wife almost died last year, he said he reflected on his game and the impact he had on other player’s lives by his recklessness (i.e. Marc Savard) and wanted to completely change his game and clean up his on-ice act.

Last year he finished with 129 PIMS in 67 games (was suspended for awhile). This year? Through 38 games, he only has 14 PIMS….14!!! His hits are also down a bunch as well. Maybe he actually is cleaning his act up after all.

Manny, I’ve been mediocre at Brush Teeth If Any, and a few of those other Rulin’s. 6. Eat Good – Fruits – Vegetables – Milk is the one I’m workin on most… if good = Eat Exciting Lunch – Win Lunch Points.

Newbury is absolutely burning it up in Hartford. AHL Player Of The Week, last week, two E.S. goals tonight, numbers 11 and 12, including the game’s first goal in a 5-2 victory. Hopefully the Rangers are taking notice and can work him in for another, and this time serious, trial.

This kid can definitely (apology for correct spelling) help the cause, up here.